McCall’s 7241

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This dress has a semi-fitted bodice with side front seams, a zipper at the back and a pleated skirt. Bowie’s “Golden Years” was stuck in my head for most of the time I worked on this dress. It could be the dress’s colour, its suitability for soul music dancing, or that, at any given time, the chances are good that a Station To Station track is stuck in my head. But I digress…

The fabric is from upholstery and I found it a couple months ago here in Vancouver at Our Social Fabric, a recycling initiative for all sorts of textiles. If you live in Vancouver and haven’t checked it out yet, you definitely should. It’s amazing!

The fabric itself is very thick and was quite stiff to work with, but the result is well worth it. The fabric’s weight gives the dress a high-quality feel, and its geometric design is so interesting.

The bodice is lined with a navy rayon I had in my stash.

I cut a size 6 and my only alteration was to remove about half an inch at the shoulder seams. Here’s a closer look at my favourite detail, the pleats:

Overall, I love the way the dress turned out. Wearing the dress makes me want to go dancing! “I’ll stick with you baby for a thousand years. Nothing’s gonna touch you in these golden years, gold Golden years, gold whop whop whop…”

Lovely dress! Lovely You! I’m visiting via Rhonda’s Creative Life and wanted to say how nice it is to meet another Vancouver seamstress! I’ve only been to one Social sale and hope to get to their new location soon…perhaps even this weekend!